Well, it's almost the end. Again, I don't own things. I just borrow them. Although Rynn is mine.
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Vincent was finally awake and ready to inspect the lab whenever Hojo declared it safe for inspection. He had a feeling that Hojo was down there trying to hide whatever illegal, controversial things he was currently doing, and cast a suspicious glance towards the hidden door in the corner of the guest bedroom. I should go down now, unexpectedly, and give the bastard what he deserves. The idea held more and more merit the longer he considered it, and finally he retrieved his gun from the small bag he'd brought with him, put it in its usual place, and descended the spiral stairs.
"Hojo!" he asserted at the bottom. "I'm coming in now." He strode past a small partitioned section and made his way toward the rooms at the end of the earthy hallway, where things were a bit more civilized. There were too many bats in the corridor for his taste, and the ground (for there was no floor) was too fungal. He threw open the door and entered the room with its mysterious bottles and equipment. There were many other chambers hidden after the initial set, but of course he didn't know that, until much later.
Hojo was buried in a pile of books, sitting at his desk and frantically making notes in the margins. He barely looked up to register the Turk, then did a double triple take and stammered, "D-didn't I tell you to wait upstairs! Shoo!" Lucrecia and two other men were working diligently nearby on...something.
As if I were a glorified house pet. Vincent's lip curled in derision. Where's Lucrecia? "I'm not shooing, Hojo, so I suggest you apprise me of your dealings. What is your project and its status? I'm eager to begin my vacation, you know."
"Come with me, and I will show you all my powers." said Hojo abruptly. He stood up, and insisted, "Come!" He dashed upstairs, and Vincent had no choice. "You too!"Lucrecia and the others followed in their wake.
Hojo flung open the door to the mansion, kicked the gate. Vincent noticed his unnatural strength and shivered. What has Hojo been doing out here? he wondered. It was as if he were possessed by another force, controlled by something greater than...no. It was absurd and he didn't trust his altered thoughts. This place is too white and blank to be right.
Vincent and the others watched as Hojo exited Nibelheim. "Where are we going?" he asked them, but they only shook their heads.
The slight delay had caused them to miss the first part of the spectacle, but what Vincent saw made his blood turn cold and cease flowing. "What the-" and he pulled out his gun, ready to defend Hojo (even if I hate him) but Lucrecia shoved his hand aside and pointed.
A great, leathery-winged beast towered over them all, as Hojo laughed, a harsh grating sound like the rasping of an engine. He was exuding an aura that slowly killed the grass around it, and Vincent did not want to stray any closer. He took Lucrecia's hand as Hojo grabbed the monster with the sickly mist; it toppled to the ground with a roar. But Hojo subdued it quickly, rushing over to it, and though it thrashed as he strangled it, it could not break free.
How the fuck can that homunculus have so much strength? His brain resorted to Latin because he had no other perfect word for Hojo; indeed, all the other languages he had picked up in his time had no word so fitting as that one, which meant 'little man,' in a condescendingly insulting way. I don't know what the hell he's been up to, but...
Hojo interrupted his thoughts, "If one man such as myself can fell so great a monster, what would someone trained as a warrior be able to do? I submit to you, Vincent Valentine, that Shinra can, with my help, develop the perfect weapon- an ideal fighter whose strength is augmented by the powers which I have demonstrated here!"
This was too much for Vincent to subsume along with the Rynn-coloured mess of yesterday, and so he said and did nothing as Hojo proceeded silently back into the town, into the mansion. Even the other scientists looked stunned; Hojo must have been holding back from them as well. They silently entered the mansion, Vincent last, and before he crossed over he turned his heart to glance at the sky, and wished to be with Rynn instead. But still he could not bring himself to think about his future, and so he followed the rest of them.
Lucrecia ambushed him before he could continue, and hissed, "Outside. I can't breathe in here." So he turned again and headed out, happy to flee the oppressive mansion.
But out in the pale light of an anaemic day, he noticed something strange about her for the first time. Although it had only been three months since he'd last seen her, she looked...changed.
"Lucrecia, what is going on out here?"
She responded mistily, "Do you remember when you last came here? Things are different now. I'm pregnant. Hojo thinks it's for the best, though. He's going to use our child in his experiment for the perfect warrior."
Vincent could have taken a bullet better than that news, delivered in such a precise and detached manner. He stopped walking, but couldn't find anything to say. 'Our' child? So is she saying it's mine...or his? The thought of Hojo with Lucrecia made him ill, but even more so did the implications. A little child, poor child, brought up to be nothing but a weapon. He grew angry and walked out of town.
She pleaded, "Vincent, don't be angry. Our-"
"Don't be angry?" he asked in such an icy tone that she nearly drew away. "Look!" he gestured towards the dying grass and the dead monster that Hojo had killed minutes ago. "Are you going to use your child in this?"
Lucrecia let out a little sob and fled towards the gates. He kept up easily, and grabbed her hands. Begged, "Please, Lucrecia! You can just say no. Hojo can find willing test subjects, or Shinra will find them for him." He was blocking her path, so she ran back out of the town.
Before pursuing her, he thought, Well, I don't see how my Lucrecia could be so misguided. He refused to dwell on anything except the fact that she was planning on experimenting on her own innocent child.
She was crying. "Vincent, please! Don't you know this will be for the greater good? I've thought long and hard about this, and concluded that this is the only way."
"The only way," he growled. "I'm sure Hojo feels the same about my child, and I have no choice?" If it's mine, she'll tell me here. He knew what words could and couldn't do, and that in Lucrecia's response would be the truth.
She was suddenly silent.
"Lucrecia?" he asked, thinking, There can't possibly be anyone else, right? We fucked three months ago and now she's pregnant. No, that's wrong. Quit deluding yourself. I manipulated the conversation so I could figure out what she thought, and now I have. She doesn't know. HOW CAN SHE FUCKING NOT KNOW?!!?!? His sanity chose that moment to mostly vacate the premises.
"Vincent, it might not-" she began, but he was in no mood to hear it. He ran off in a wild fit, and scarcely noticed where he was or what he was doing.
Lucrecia couldn't have she wouldn't dare I can't believe she's going to test her own child and make him into this fighter sounds just like Hojo he's putting her up to this the bastard I'll kill him if he even thinks at them anymore must protect my own family!!!
He eventually calmed down. His thoughts had carried him to the river, and he made his way back to Nibelheim, only to see Lucrecia standing there, embracing Hojo who was comforting her and wiping away her tears ever so gently...
Well, Vincent, it's only what you deserved. Besides, she doesn't even know yet whose it is. If she is happy then, with him, I guess I don't mind. Head shake. What the hell am I saying? Of course I do! No, it's her safety and happiness and you can't be judgmental after all you just made love to Rynn...so just leave the emotion out of it for once, Valentine; be as cold as you need to be to survive and convince her that it's not in the best interests of the child to treat it like a guinea pig.
So he went back into the town, where Hojo and Lucrecia were waiting for him. "You've had a shock," Hojo said in a tone that did not suggest solicitude. "Why don't you rest in the inn for awhile, to get out of the mansion." He entered and signaled the attendant, who nodded. Obviously they had arranged this during his walk.
They all went upstairs, then. Lucrecia, tired and worn, sat down and unconsciously rubbed her stomach as they began talking.
"I," started Hojo, "am undertaking this experiment for the sole purpose of carrying out the work I am destined to do. Lucrecia has graciously volunteered to participate in it. You, no matter what there is between you two, cannot stop her, and I suggest that you either give up and stay here quietly or leave so that you do not disrupt my project."
"So that's what this is to you? A project? I don't care whose child it is, Hojo, or how many people consent. I'm against it! Why experiment on humans?!"
"She and I are both scientists," Hojo said, casting a significant look at Lucrecia, wrapped in her own world where gears and machines inside her were producing this warrior.
"So does that not make you human?" Vincent said. "You could find others to work on. I oppose this."
"And what are you going to do about it? It's already been approved by people higher than you, and getting involved would be...hazardous to your health."
"Is that another flimsy threat, Hojo?"
Lucrecia stood and said, "Vincent, please! Do you remember, before I left Midgar, we were speaking of our life together? We can still have that, if-"
"If what? If he takes up residence in our basement? I'll let him live in the toilet where a slimy piece of shit like him belongs!" Hojo only flexed his hands, feeling his new strength flood him with energy. On so many levels, the thought of killing Vincent made him...excited.
"I'll name him Laeroth, like you wanted," Lucrecia offered. "I know I wanted Sephikos, after the mythical God of the Sky, but-"
"How about a synthesis, Lucrecia, since you don't mind fiddling with sacred things? We can call him Sephiroth as a compromise, just like the dirty compromise you're trying to get me to agree to. And we'll all live happily ever after in the mansion basement, so we can do inhumane experiments in our spare time. We can each sleep in one of those coffins in the hallway and have sex on the desk in the next room."
"But, Vincent, I love-"
"Science! You only love science!" He flung his arms in indignation. "You certainly can't love me, if you think to use me so easily. You also can't love your child, because you value him as a lab rat and nothing more..."
She uttered a slight cry and collapsed. Hojo rushed to her side, saying, "Look what you have done!" He struck Vincent hard, and as the Turk fainted, Hojo picked up Lucrecia and carried her from the room.
Vincent awoke to the cover of nighttime. I can't let him do this to her! Must stop him...stop them all. He was disgusted with the world and so wrapped up that he could think of nothing but what Lucrecia was planning on doing, so he ran to the mansion and flew down the stairs. He almost tripped on a divot of sod in the hallway, but persevered and nearly knocked the door open.
Hojo again was at his desk, but rose. "I'm afraid that I cannot have you down here. It could destroy all that I've worked for. Professor Gast and I have talked it over, and agreed that you must return to whatever slime pit you came from immediately."
"I will stop you, Hojo! You are the problem! You ruined Lucrecia's heart, made her as twisted as you are, and perverted her mind into believing that she must sacrifice her child!"
"Lucrecia never loved you, Vincent," said Hojo, chuckling. "She hated how you doted on her, but the last time you came she was desperate to conceive a child, desperate enough to run to you in hopes that you would fertilize her."
The way he talks about her...the bastard! You don't understand what love is, so how could you ever say such a thing? "LIES!" he bellowed. "ALL LIES! Lucrecia would never think that and I will kill you for talking that way about her!"
That laugh again! Hojo bowed and said, "You can no longer mess with my experiment. You will survive today, but you will be forever changed. Your punishment is that you will witness the glory of my triumph unable to save anything, including yourself..."
And he pulled out a gun and shot Vincent in the heart. "The fool. I'll make him see that Lucrecia loves me...and only me!" He glanced around furtively, hoping she hadn't heard the gunshots from his bed upstairs, then, using his unnatural powers, placed Vincent on the nearest lab table and said, "Let's see...I'll need some operating equipment, some Mako...some cruelty..." He grabbed a sterilized needle filled with a glowing green res, and, hypothesizing about what would happen, jabbed it into Vincent's left arm. For there was only that word, a Latin word, that could encompass the possibilities of Mako in its...complexus..
His eyes glowed as he said to the body, "You will awaken to a nightmare. You will be trapped, completely impotent, and Lucrecia will think you abandoned her. She will retaliate by throwing herself more firmly into my arms...all for the sake of my project!"